Alabama Homebrew Legislation 2013

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ALCAP is the equivalent to the church in the dark ages that would burn people at the stake and boil them in oil, those who they considered to be heretics.
 
I have contacted the Governor. I have sent thank yous to many of the supporters (end personalized ones to Holzclaw, McCutcheon, Irons, and Allen [my senator who voted "yes" despite a history of anti-alcohol votes]).

Irons has already sent me a "You are most welcome! Glad we could pass it!".

I also sent this to my Representative, John Merrill:

Oh snap!
 
Incidentally, I note that several of the "yes" votes came from those as being considered to be anti-homebrewing.

Allen voted yes. He's pretty anti-alcohol.

Bussman voted yes. He's been considered anti-homebrewing for some time.

Orr voted yes, and has voted no on just about every piece of alcohol legislation he has seen.

Ditto Holley. N votes on everything for years.

Were they confused? Swayed by the deluge of contacts?

I've been nagging Bussman for over a month now. I like to think that's why he voted yes.
 
JeepDiver said:
Well since Mississippi's law was signed by the Governor a month or two ago, nope yall are still behind the Great State of Mississippi, as usual. But Congrats on being the last state to get Home brewing approved. :ban: :tank:

Actually per al.com there's a 90 wait on the MS bill, so if Dr. Bob signs soon, AL would technically be legal before MS.
 
Interesting article from Esquire.

Homebrewing is a perfectly reasonable (and Ron Swanson-approved) hobby in 49 states. The fiftieth? “I’m glad to say we’re the last state,” Alabama State Representative Richard Baughn declared during a House meeting on April 2. Here, it’s currently a felony to homebrew.

But the hops-heads won’t be criminals much longer. HB9 — Alabama’s latest iteration of a homebrewing legalization bill — passed through the State House that night. Two hours of debate ended in a 58-33 vote (64 percent approval). And yesterday, long after the hour you might expect these politicians to rush home to catch Rectify, HB9 officially went further than any homebrewing bill has gone before. The Alabama Senate surprisingly brought it to the floor out of order and passed the bill without much debate, 18-7. Homebrewing may still be short of legal, but now only Governor Robert Bentley’s pen stands in the way. And State Senator Bill Holtzclaw, a known HB9 proponent within that body, told AL.com that Bentley is “fine” with the legislation.

Alabama, for all intents and purposes, has been on an island. In 2009, Utah made 47. In 2010, Oklahoma claimed 48, and this March, Mississippi took 49 (though their bill takes 90 days to go into effect). On the verge of history, it remains unclear what the hell took 50 so long. Alabama’s pushback against homebrewing can’t be blamed on the state’s dry counties; HB9 was sponsored by a politician with some jurisdiction in such an area and a majority of reps in that position voted yes. As the debate from that first vote shows, opponents were simply full of Nick Saban-levels of bull****. Take Representative Allen Farley's tug to the heartstrings, for example:

" As a Christian father of three daughters and 11 grandchildren, I’ve been blessed, you’ve been blessed, this a personal thing with me.... Upstairs right now we’re trying to give everybody a gun and downstairs we’re trying to give everybody the opportunity to brew alcohol. If we ever get that group together, we have more trouble than we can handle."

That got a little pushback, so Farley went on, “If you abused either one of them, yes, but that seems to be the tendency of the world we live in and we know that.”

Farley proposed one of two failed amendments to HB9. After kinda-sorta indirectly comparing homebrewing to firearms, he definitely thought the two entities deserved equal regulation. His amendment stated that any person who wishes to produce alcohol under HB9 must register with the sheriff’s department. That way, “Mr. So-and-so, even though he’s working at NASA and has all these degrees, if you have a question about what he’s doing, call the sheriff’s office.” (The NASA thing is apparently legitimate. Many employees actually live in Alabama even if some of their local politicians seem to be from space.)

The other formal complaint that swelled into a failed amendment was a concern about how homebrewing could impact children. Representative Mike Jones politely proposed it on behalf of his friend Representative Kurt Wallace, who was ill. Unfortunately, others were happy to get all “ROLL TIDE!” with this sentiment.

“I know people who have brewed alcohol before,” said Representative Arthur Payne. “And the jobs of the kids in the family was, after it’s brewed, they were supposed to put it in containers.”

Payne actually had more reasons behind his “no,” starting with a love of fresh air. He lamented how he might have to smell beer being brewed near churches or schools, places liquor stores must remain 1,000 feet away from (though homes in closer range can theoretically possess alcohol). His main complaint, however, dealt with the dangers homebrewing would bring to the state. Here he is, practically breathless:

" You’re going to have all kinds of people abuse this, you’re going to have kinds of people sell this, you’re going to put alcohol in every neighborhood in this state, you’re going to expose kids to alcohol who have never had alcohol before in their lives, you’re going to have families destroyed by this bill because of bringing alcohol into their family unit. It’s a bad idea for Alabama, it’s a bad bill. I’m going to predict right now, standing here, that if this passes — and I hope for goodness that the Senate has some sense, has some concern for the people of Alabama and kills this bill — we will have more domestic violence, more young kids drinking alcohol, more wrecks on the highways of this state because of this bill. We’re just completely opening up this whole state to alcohol. Every family, every home, every block — we’re going to brew alcohol. Do you think that’s a good thing to do?"

Luckily for sensible Alabamians, extreme opinions like Payne's dwindled in recent years. The House vote in 2011 was a 45-28 loss. In 2012, it was a slight 44-33 win but the legislative session ended before a Senate vote. This time around, some of the Gump-like hyperbole was actually in favor of homebrewing. If some politicians wanted to invoke Christ as a reason to vote no, Representative Juandalynn Givan was ready with a counter: “Jesus turned water into wine, and when it ran out, he made some more.”

Perhaps this was simply a matter of time. “I don’t care what’s in this bill, I don’t even want to read the bill,” said Representative John Rogers. “I just know I have to filibuster this bill.” Rogers did his best, even stretching his comments by admitting he occasionally enjoys some Grey Goose or “yak and 7-Up” (that’s cognac). But no matter how long he delayed, a majority eventually passed it — including Rogers, who, yes, filibustered a bill he ultimately supported.

Cheers to you, Alabama, clearly you’ve got a drink coming that’s been brewing far too long.
 
Technically I'm still out in the cold, because I live in a dry county. Hopefully that will change, and I won't live here forever.


Isn't Haleyville a wet municipality? Move over there and you will be OK.

I think after a year or two when the good people of Alabama see that there isn't blood running in the streets, because we passed a homebrew bill, we can begin to "deregulate" homebrewing.
 
Haleyville is wet, and so is Double Springs. Unfortunately, I have to live here because this is where my work is. But I won't be here for more than a few years. And it's nice to know I'm not facing a felony anymore.

Edit: I live about twelve miles east of Double Springs, in Houston. Just clarifying that.
 
Isn't Haleyville a wet municipality? Move over there and you will be OK.

I think after a year or two when the good people of Alabama see that there isn't blood running in the streets, because we passed a homebrew bill, we can begin to "deregulate" homebrewing.

You'll have to find someone to run that show! The 'main folks' that get this one passed have both promised they will have nothing else to do with that crazy process.

I heard them say they were done after the 2012 and the 2011 sessions too though...
 
Does anyone else feel like playing some Queen?

Are you thinking "We are the Champions" or, after what happened last night, "A Kind of Magic?"

Those are both great choices. However, in honor of Alvin Holmes and the great religion of Bootyism (see video link for explanation), I am at this moment listening to "Fat Bottom Girls."



Rock on, Alvin.
 
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Congratulations guys, but I have to be honest, I'll be a little sad that I don't have this thread to entertain me next year.
:mug:
 
The "Alabama 2014 Legislation" page will hopefully be about the "Free the Hops" organization's push for less restrictive transportation rules and higher storage limits. Of course that may have to wait for 2015....
 
KingRichard said:
The "Alabama 2013 Legislation" page will hopefully be about the "Free the Hops" organization's push for less restrictive transportation rules and higher storage limits. Of course that may have to wait for 2015....

And reduce the penalty from Class B misdemeanor to Class C.
 
BarefootFriar said:
For homebrewing? I thought the current bill is class C.

From this link:
http://legiscan.com/AL/bill/HB9/2013

Select the second text link in the Alabama state resources table. Look at the last page. The correct version is marked with dates by the house clerk.

The exact link is http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/searchableinstruments/2013RS/Printfiles/HB9-eng.pdf

Page 3 line 25 states:
"(i) Any violation of this section shall be a Class B misdemeanor."
 
Well, class b misdemeanor is still greatly superior to the felony it was before. Truthfully, I can live with the 15g limit for a while. It's just a shame it essentially cockblocks aging variation (or at least strangles it...) and lessens the appeal of lambic due to it's time commitments.

In any event, rather than just the politicians, i'd like to also thank the people (some who've posted here) who catalyzed the various bills to get them to this point. Everyone is quick to praise certain politicians for it's passage and rightfully so, but the bill still doesn't pass without the people who continually pushed to educate and serve as our face in the movement.

And finally to continue my scatterbrained post, I am at least glad to not see ALCAP not calling for massive butthurt outcry to the governor. I still sent my letter in any event but it's still comforting.
 
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